Johnny Sauter wins truck race No. 5 at Texas Motor Speedway

Johnny Sauter remains the man to beat in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. And the man to beat at Texas Motor Speedway.

Sauter continued his strong season with his fourth win of the year and his fifth win at TMS by taking the checkered flag in the PPG 400 on Friday night.

Sauter, the series' points leader, benefited with a couple late cautions that allowed him to conserve fuel to secure the 21st truck victory of his career.

Pole-sitter Stewart Friesen finished second, unsuccessfully trying to pass Sauter on the final lap. Justin Haley finished third followed by Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton.

But, as it's been the case most of the season, nobody could top Sauter, driver of the No. 21 Chevrolet. Sauter won the previous race at Texas last November, and the previous truck race this season at Charlotte.

While Sauter is a veteran visitor to Victory Lane here, the stage winners early on were drivers looking for their first wins at Texas.

Friesen, who entered the race seventh in the standings, took the opening stage. He couldn't hang on for his first truck victory, although his runner up is his best in three starts at Texas. He finished 22nd and 14th here a year ago.

Enfinger, meanwhile, won Stage 2. The driver of the No. 98 Ford started eighth and worked his way up in the middle of it.

But he couldn’t close it out for what would have been his second career win in the series, although he posted another solid finish in his third race here. He finished third and seventh in the two races last year.

Todd Gilliland, making his Texas debut, flirted with winning the race hours after celebrating his high school graduation at TMS. Gilliand started second, but wound up in sixth.

This story was originally published June 8, 2018 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Johnny Sauter wins truck race No. 5 at Texas Motor Speedway."